JASON FARMER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Rochester’s Eric Farris slides safely past the shadow of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Jose Pirela as the RailRiders second baseman leaps for an overthrown ball during the first game of a doubleheader Thursday at PNC Field.

MOOSIC — Jose Pirela carried the water bucket to the plate, and Adonis Garcia felt the splash.

The old football celebration turned out to be the only way the RailRiders could enjoy a second walk-off win in the same night.

Garcia capped a big night at the plate with a walk-off homer leading off the seventh inning of the second game, just hours after he scored the game-winning run on Kyle Roller’s slow chopper in the first game of what turned into a doubleheader sweep of nemesis Rochester, 5-4 and 1-0, on Thursday night at PNC Field.

The RailRiders entered the twinbill winners of just one of their eight games against the Red Wings. But this night would prove to be different.

Different. In so many ways.

Garcia’s big night at the dish — he went 4 for 6 with a triple, the home run and three runs scored, including the winner in both games ­— grabbed the headlines. But in the second game, pitching led the way for the RailRiders.

Struggling lefty Jeremy Bleich worked three shutout innings in his start, allowing just a pair of two-out singles in the first inning. But he gave way to enigmatic right-hander Joel De La Cruz, a sinkerballer who hadn’t given the RailRiders five innings in any of his previous seven starts.

His first appearance since being sent to the bullpen proved to be much more dynamic. He allowed just three hits in four innings, not allowing a runner past second base.

“That’s the De La we saw when he first got called up, and he kind of got away from that a little bit,” catcher Austin Romine said. “He got back to that. He was throwing the ball 92, 93 mph, and he was sinking it. He got confident, and you could see his energy level on the mound was huge. He was easy to catch. Just get out of the way and let him pitch.”

The RailRiders actually didn’t trail all night, but the first game had plenty of ups and downs.

Rob Refsnyder started the first game with a two-run homer in the first inning against lefty Scott Diamond, but the Red Wings came back with a pair of runs in the second to tie against right-hander Bruce Billings. But shortstop Carmen Angelini prevented a bigger rally.

With a runner on third, former Yankees shortstop Doug Bernier hit a sharp grounder into the hole on the left side. Angelini made a fine backhanded, running play just to glove it. His off-balance, sidearm throw to first just beat Bernier, ending the inning without Farris scoring from third.

“I was playing first, and I thought he had no chance,” Romine said. “But Carmen got there and made a good play on the ball, and I was like, ‘Cool, we stopped it.’ You never think he’d even be able to get the throw off, but he throws a BB in the air. He threw a dime. That really shut the inning down and kept us in the game.”

Billings settled down, and the RailRiders gave him the lead in the fifth on Jose Pirela’s leadoff homer and Dan Fiorito’s bases-loaded walk. But Rochester finally got to a tiring Billings in the seventh, putting two on base with one out before manager Dave Miley turned the ball over to struggling right-hander Diego Moreno, who had allowed 15 earned runs in his last 11 innings.

Back-to-back singles by Bernier and Beresford, in a matter of three pitches from Moreno, brought the tying runs in.

Fortunes changed for the RailRiders in the bottom of the inning, though. Adonis Garcia worked a walk against veteran Oscar Oliveros to lead off. Austin Romine sacrificed him to second, and Ryan Pressley came on to relieve. John Ryan Murphy’s single sent Garcia in to third before that wacky play at first, on which Hanson and Pressley collided, ended it.

“I just wanted to make contact with two strikes, basically just put the ball in play,” Roller said. “It was a high chopper, and I knew it was going to be a tough play for him. I basically ran as hard as I could, and they ran into each other.”

Contact the writer:

dcollins@timesshamrock.com
On Twitter @RailRidersTT

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